Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

• Meta Keywords Tag 101: How "Legally" Hide Words On Your Pages For Search Engines
  If there’s anything I particularly hate when it comes to SEO, it’s the meta keywords tag. I so wish it had never been invented. It’s practically useless, yet people still obsess over it. In this article, I’ll explain more about why you shouldn’t worry about it except perhaps for misspellings,…
• Don’t Abuse Users’ Search Experience With 301 Redirects
  Linkbait, link juice, PageRank, paid links—all of these terms are commonly associated with one of the fundamental building blocks of successful search engine optimization (SEO): link development. One of the problems with link development gurus is their obsession with 301 redirects. Heck, I have even heard search engine software…
• Microsoft’s Adult & Pharma Referrals Are Search Quality Tests
  I have been tracking a WebmasterWorld thread that has reports of weird Microsoft Live Search referral strings that come from Microsoft-owned IP blocks but show irrelevant keywords in the adult and pharmaceutical space. Today I reported that these findings are indeed valid and are official Microsoft tests. A Microsoft representative…
• Mapspam Now Appearing On Yahoo Local
  If spam isn’t an indication of the arrival of an advertising medium (e.g. email spam, search spam) I don’t know what is. Mike Blumenthal, who identified instances of Google mapspam has now investigated non-local businesses trying to fool the local algorithms on Yahoo into thinking they are local. Blumenthal cites…
• Google Adds Distance Measurement to My Maps
  The Google Lat Long Blog reports that users drawing trail or hiking maps with its My Maps line tool will now get automatic distance measurements between points when they create personalized maps. This is a small but useful enhancement, one of many recent incremental improvements that Google has added to…
• Microsoft Bundling Software, Apps In New "Windows Live Services"
  Microsoft has rolled out something similar to the Google Pack software bundle called "Windows Live Services." Google Operating System has a lengthy (favorable) overview. The package includes mail and instant messaging, search toolbar, online storage, photosharing and blogging software, all from Microsoft. It operates as something of an extension of…
• The Power Of Branding For Small Business, Part One
  More and more I’m discovering the necessity of helping our customers brand themselves in the search sphere. In the past, we often felt that some clients just didn’t need to be branded in the search results. Maybe because they were smaller clients or didn’t have a nationally recognized name….
• Google Reader Adds Search & Other Features
  The Google Reader Blog announced several new features for Google Reader. The big feature is search. You can now search your subscriptions, including subscriptions to shared items. Google Reader also enhanced the unread count numbers to show up to 1,000, as opposed to up to 100 unread subscriptions. Plus, you…
• Google Book Search Adds My Library, Popular Passages, Embedded Quotes & More
  Google announced several new features for Google Book Search. They include: A new "My library" section that allows you to add books and annotations to your personal "library." Of course, Google allows you to search your library as well You can share your library by adding labels, writing reviews, rating…
• Google Fight: Nokia & Apple Ads Trade Blows Over iPhone Price Cut
  Bought that iPhone and now upset over the $200 price drop after it’s been out only 60 days? Nokia’s guessing plenty are and reaching out to them on Google via search ads. But Apple’s not sitting back in the face of the Nokia ad campaign. Apple has put out…

Search News From Around The Web:

Applications & Portal Features

• Google Spreadsheets Lets You Import Online Data, Google Operating System
• Lazy Wednesday…, Google Docs & Spreadsheets Blog
• Gmail eats your Bacn, Official Gmail Blog
• Google Gadgets Editor, Google Blogoscoped
• Zoho Business Announced – Web Office Suite To Compete With Google Apps, Read/Write Web

Business Issues

• EU questions Google customers over DoubleClick, Reuters

Link Building

• The Power of Link Building and Public Relations, Search Engine Watch
• The Paid Links Debate: Shades of Gray, Search Engine Watch

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Superpages Gets Local Mobile App, Search Engine Watch Blog
• Google Earth 4.2 Release Notes Available, Google Earth Blog
• Google Earth Free/Plus License Change: Allowed in Businesses, Google Earth Blog
• Google LatLong: Where do you want to fly today?, Google LatLong
• Flight Simulator HUD Display Guide, and an Advanced Tip, Google Earth Blog

Paid Search & Contextual

• AdWords Downtime – Saturday, September 8th, 10am – 2pm PST, AdWords API Blog
• Why You May Not Be Able to Use Google Adwords Campaign Optimizer, PPC Hero
• Yahoo Taiwan Upgrades to Search Marketing Panama, Search Engine Journal
• A Bigger, Bolder, "Bluer" Network, Yahoo Publisher Network Blog

Searching

• New Questions make a Comeback, Askville Blog
• Envisioning the Next Chapter for Electronic Books, New York Times
• Eye Candy Google = Groovle, TechCrunch
• Where are Search Engines Most Likely To Innovate?, SEOmoz
• Consumer: What’s New in Open Source Search?, Linux Insider
• Google Custom Search: Setting The Bar For Vertical Search Engines, Read/Write Web

SEM Industry

• Keynoting a Search Engine Marketing Conference for My Honeymoon, SEO Book
• SMS Crossword Puzzle, The SEO Scoop
• SES Interviews: Kim Krause Berg and Bill Slawski on Supplemental Index and Usability, Search Marketing Standard

SEO & SEM

• How to Know the Difference Between an Automated Penalty & a Hand Edit, SEO Book
• Seth Godins Latest Idea: One Click Auto Scraping?, Snowboard John
• User Generated Content for SEO, Online Marketing Blog
• Usability and SEO. Which comes First?, Search Engine Watch Blog
• EarthLink Traffic Builder – A Good Deal or Not?, Bill Hartzer
• Forward Link SEO Tool – Improved and Free Today, Jim Boykin
• Increase The Visibility of Your Small Business Web Site on a Shoestring Budget, Search Engine Guide

Social Media

• Twitter for News, Twitter Blog
• Update on New Comments System, YouTube
• FEC Determines That Blogs Count As Media, TechCrunch
• Why Digg is better than Google, SEOptimise
• Social Media Marketing Strategy, DoshDosh
• Twitter’s Open Platform Advantage, Read/Write Web
• How to Get Your Company Listed on Wikipedia, Part I, MarketingSherpa

Video, Music & Image Search

• Download This: YouTube Phenom Has a Big Secret, Wall Street Journal
• YouTube Agrees UK Music Royalty Deal, The Associated Press

Other Items

• 10 Future Web Trends, Read/Write Web
• When Will Google Celebrate Their 9th Birthday This Year?, Search Engine Roundtable

Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:

• User Generated Content for SEO
• ValueClick Ad Network Serving Bogus and Incentivized Leads
• Beginner’s Guide To Setting Up A First Blog Site
• Meta Keywords Tag Tutorial & Update: Yahoo & Ask Support It
• Storm Worm Trojan Hits Blogger
• Training Link Developers to Become Marketing Gurus – Justilien Gaspard
• Warning: Use These 5 Surefire Headline Formulas at Your Own Risk
• A little "Allowed" HTML in comments?
• Facebook Opening Profiles to Search Engine Indexing
• 10 Reasons Why You Should be Interested in Youtube
• Social Media Marketing Strategy: Re-Submitting Linkbaits for Viral Success
• Muhammad Saleem Interview – Social Media Expert
• Are You Quizzing Your Potential SEO Clients?

Related Topics: SearchCap

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About The Author: Danny Sullivan is editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land. He’s a widely cited authority on search engines and search marketing issues who has covered the space since 1996. Danny also oversees Search Engine Land’s SMX: Search Marketing Expo conference series. He maintains a personal blog called Daggle (and maintains his disclosures page there). He can be found on Facebook, Google + and microblogs on Twitter as @dannysullivan. See more articles by Danny Sullivan

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